


Coffee Stain

by Life_of_Sin



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Blood, Hallucinations, Lucio's punishment, Red Plague (The Arcana), The Magician's Realm (The Arcana), plague beetles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:42:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26658379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Life_of_Sin/pseuds/Life_of_Sin
Summary: As Lucio attempts to readjust to his new life in the magical realm, he gets visited by some familiarly unfriendly faces. And realises how nonsensical the realms are.
Kudos: 10





	Coffee Stain

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Idle Hands](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22394989) by [cyanideinsomnia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyanideinsomnia/pseuds/cyanideinsomnia). 



I-I don't-I don't want to be here anymore. 

_I can't stand it here!_

"Let me go!" He shouted to the empty sky and fell to his knees, dragging his hands through his hair. Hair that once was so beautiful. So soft that lambs watched him with jealousy, so shiny that his golden arm had to compete for the shimmer.

Now it was grimy with endless dirt and oil that wouldn't wash out with the awful water he had come across, not fit for drinking let alone bathing in. But necessities must, as Nadia said to him, far too frequently. The water was half particles of floating silt and algae that compromised its drinkability. First time he drank it he was sent into a fever so severe that he felt he was dying once again.

He didn't want to die.

That's what started everything.

_He **didn't want** to die._

He would do anything to return to his realm. Back to Vesuvia. Where he belonged. He was so _hungry_ , he was so _thirsty_ , he was so, so _tired_. Sleeping with one eye open all the time in order to guard against the dangerous creatures that stalked the realm. Sometimes, sometimes there were nice ones, bugs that glowed, small reptiles that would soak up the sun's warmth and keep him comfortable in the night, every once in a while, he would come across a group of manta rays that would glide along the wind's currents. He only ever came across them when he somehow stumbled into one particular realm, dark sky and sand on the beaches but lit up by neon colour. However, almost as soon as he found it, the owner of the realm would come across him and kick him out once again. 

He lived a painful nomadic lifestyle, hard not only because of his previous life of luxury, but because the land gave him no resources, and offered him no comfort. His food came from animals he had already found dead, sometimes he managed to cook it by capturing one of the warming lizards and squeezed the heat into a fire. He hadn't heard his name in an unknown amount of time, which moved differently in the realms, by the length his hair had grown, it had been over a year. Much longer. 

_Give me a face. Give me someone, **anyone** , just give me something to beg too. If I can plead my case, I can leave. I'm sure I can get out. I've been in some sticky situations before, it's just that I haven't seen anyone who I could convince._

"Lucio?" 

He flew around and stepped back a few paces, lifting his hands to protect himself from the threat. He hadn't heard his name in so long. There was no one to speak it. His wild eyes darted back and forth over the intruder's face, their dark skin, their scarlet eyes.

"Nadia." His voice came out a croak, barely believing that his lovely wife, _ex-wife_ , a harsh voice in his head snapped, was in front of him. "Have you come for me?" His voice was so desperate, so quiet, he sounded like a child. His face crumpled when her lips parted and she began laughing, her delicate, diplomat's laugh, mocking and cruel as she cackled at him. 

"You? Lucio, you're nothing." She said finally, deep eyes scowling down at him from the height her perfect posture had given her, he was crouched in front of her like a wild animal, small in comparison. "Look, Vesuvia's forgotten you already. A coffee stain on the grand city's history. Like the red-plague. Why would they want their arrogant, hot-headed, _stupid_ count to return?" She stepped closer, he could almost smell her spiced perfume.  
"Nadia, Noddy, you can't -"  
"Shut up." She spat. "You wanted power, you wanted adoration, you ended up getting, vain, and sick, and dead. But you just couldn't _stay_ dead. You still wanted power. So you risked the world. The entire world just so you could be the _great Count Lucio_." He stepped back as she kept approaching, her eyes sharpening to match with her harsh words. "Why would anybody want you back? When you just keep bringing pain, and sickness, and death?" Lucio could only continue to step back as Nadia advanced towards him. 

"Nadia. Nadia, please," He choked and she scoffed, clicking her long nails together. "Look, I know I wasn't good, I wasn't a good man. But-but I've been here for years!"  
"It's been three weeks."  
"Maybe where you are," He snapped back and raked his human hand through his hair. "I've-I've been here an eternity! Please, I'll be good! I won't be any trouble for you! Just, all I need is a way home, I won't come back to the castle, I'll leave Vesuvia! Please, Noddy, I can't stand it here anymore!" He fell to his knees and held his hands out, palms pressed together desperately.  
"You've got nothing anymore, do you, Lucio? No dignity, no authority," She paused and began laughing at him, vicious grin widening as she saw the way Lucio's face crumbled. "No hope." She stepped back and snapped her fingers. "You can rot here, enjoy." He scrambled to his feet as she stepped back and dove towards her hopefully, landing on the ground as Nadia disappeared.

"You can't do this!" He shouted to the empty space where Nadia had just been. "Please, Nadia! Come back!" His fingers clawed at the dirt and ripped a hole in the ground as he curled up. "Please, Nadia, please..."

~

_I hate her. I always hated her._  
_No, I never hated her._  
_For a while, I loved her. I loved Nadia._  
_Of course, she never loved me. I was just a waste of space. An air-head who wanted nothing more than to attend parties and enjoy myself. I had fought for my power. I lost my arm to pursue my rightful standing. I deserved to enjoy myself. I didn't deserve this._

Lucio stalked across the purple grass, kicking the glittering stones out of his way and glaring accusingly at the small blue berries that he had eaten when he first arrived, and found to be so potently alcoholic that a handful of them had him crawling across the ground until he almost fell off of a cliff. The trees all grew with strange grey bark, that didn't burn without thoroughly squishing one of the warm lizards against it, their leaves a bluish-grey colour, not like the trees in Vesuvia. He hated this realm. No-man's land between the realms owned by the major Arcana, nothing he could eat, no fresh water, just harsh weather, dry grass and trees.

Maybe he could strike a deal with one of the Arcana? Offer...something...in exchange for a place in their realm, a corner, that's all he wanted. Food, water, a bed, maybe something to do.

But every time one of them saw him he was hurled unceremoniously from their realm, finding himself in some random patch of the Nowhere realm he currently trudged through. His eyes caught the light hitting his golden arm and winced, blood dried brown was staining the claws, reminding him of last time he came across prey. Some yellow and red cat-like creature, it turned on him and he lashed out with his arm, severing it's carotid artery and downing it. An animalistic instinct overtook him and he found himself crouching over the creature, having ripped it open, and was tearing at its flesh with his teeth. Unflinching as the rancid meat resisted his chewing, coppery blood flooding across his tongue. 

His stomach gurgled as he thought of the meal, he had been scared off before he could finish by some birds-of-prey, huge in size with talons the size of his arm and beaks sharp as needles that picked apart the carcass in moments. His human hand clutched the metal one, rubbing furiously at the stains, hopelessly attempting to clean it from the evidence of his brutality. There's no way he could convince someone to release him from this hell while he looked like a vicious murderer. He wasn't like that anymore. He wasn't.

He let out a cry as his foot stepped down on something hard and it crunched under it. He lifted his boot uncertainly, screaming as he saw the red beetle he had squished. "No!" He moaned and whipped around as the sound of scuttling legs rose over the silence like a wave. A swarm of the red beetles were clattering towards him, crawling over each other in their haste, multiple legs propelling them faster than they should have been. He screamed again and turned on his heel, running. Tripping over mounds of little yellow weeds and the twisted grey roots of the trees as he sprinted through the countryside, desperate to outrun the plague. "Go away! Leave me alone! Just leave me be!" He called back to them, but the swarm wouldn't slow as he felt their legs reaching for him, touching his ankles, gripping onto his boots with their claws before being shaken off by his frantic pace. "Stop! Stop it!" He felt the grip catch and suddenly they were swarming up his legs, crawling along his pants and circling his thighs. "Get lost!" He tried brushing them off but they only latched onto his hands and began clambering up his arms. No matter how much he struggled, they kept coming, swallowing his legs, gripping his fingers and climbing up to his shoulders. He opened his mouth to scream and choked on them as they tried crowding the open space, he bit down on one and it exploded in bitter acid, sliding thickly across his tongue as he curled over and gagged, still encompassed by the insects. He fell to the ground, crushing an innumerable amount of them, but only being pressed down on by the endless crowd of insects, sharp claws clambering over his skin, pulling at his eyelids, attempting to push their way into his sinuses, tangling in his hair. He couldn't breath. He was afraid to open his eyes and see the red and gold cloud that was choking him.  
_This was it. This is how he was going to die. Suffocated by the beetles he had poisoned his city with._

Suddenly a hand on his collar dragged him up and the beetles were gone. He opened his eyes and saw the tanned skin and white hair of one of his persecutors.  
"Asra? That was your name, wasn't it?" He gasped. "What are you doing here?" The figure began laughing and looked the forsaken count up and down.  
"Witnessing your breakdown." He grinned and crossed his arms. "Impressive. One wouldn't be able to tell the difference between you and a wild animal." Lucio flushed and looked at his messy, torn clothing.  
"I-I have looked better in the past, I must admit." He smiled weakly and reached to cover the patches that had been ripped in his clothes by being snatched at by predators and the major Arcana.  
"No. You've always looked this disgusting." Asra replied, tilting his head slightly. "Just, you know, cleaner." Lucio forced a laugh from his lips, nodding as he swallowed the remnants of the beetle's flavour. 

_Just, play along, Lucio. Get out of the realm, then you can throttle him._

"Wh-what are you doing here?" He asked innocently, clasping his hands together, wincing as he realised the flesh one was bleeding from when he was trying to clean his golden arm. "Have you come for me?" He asked and curled in protectively when Asra began laughing again.  
"Why on Earth would he come for you?" 

_He?_

"Why would Asra, or Nadia, or any of them come and see you?" 'Asra' continued. "You're gone, you've stopped causing trouble at the castle, everyone's living the best life they can before you inevitably ruin it again. Nadia can run Vesuvia without having to consult an over-grown child beforehand, I can spend my time doing something productive instead of wasting my magic on your sorry life, Julian, your darling Julian, he's getting married. Now that he isn't being executed for your murder." 

_Julian. He's getting married?_

"Jules never wanted to get married." He whispered uncertainly and 'Asra' snorted.  
"Not to you, for damn sure. The apprentice, _my_ apprentice, who stopped you and the Devil? He's in love with them, they're going back to Nevivon to tell the elders." He picked at his manicured nails and Lucio glanced instinctively to his chipped, broken and dirty ones. "Everyone's life is perfect now that you're gone for good. Gods, Nadia's removed all of your statues, replaced them with real heroes, awarded my apprentice an honour of saving Vesuvia from the carriage-wreck that is you, Julian can finally stop running, and never has to see you again. He hated how you were always flirting with him, demanding attention, while people were dying."

" _I_ was dying!"

"Oh, get over yourself. When you force-fed him an infection that would kill him just to improve your chances? You think that man has _any_ fondness for you? Everyone only remembers you as the coffee stain that marked Vesuvia's history."

_Didn't Nadia say that?_

"Look, Asra, please, I swear I'm different. I don't want power, I don't want luxury, I just want to go home!" Lucio fell to his knees once again, pride be damned, dignity be fucked. Whatever could get him out of here.  
"Ha! Home? Lucio, who in the world would give you a home?" 'Asra' stepped up to Lucio and narrowed his eyes. "You don't let vermin into your house." Before thinking Lucio had struck out with his left hand and it passed through Asra harmlessly.

"Wh-what?" He mused in bewilderment.

"Oh, come now, Lucio," 'Asra' snorted and crossed his arms. "I just told you that you were alone. Why would anyone waste time to come see you? They aren't going to let you go, and they won't put you out of your misery, so it'll just be you wandering the realms eternally."  
"But-but, how are you here, then?" He whispered and the apparition laughed.  
"The realms work in mysterious ways," He said, shrugging as his opaqueness faded, revealing the trees and shrubs behind him. "You only company will be the hallucinations of your conscience punishing you for the mess you got yourself into."

With that, the image disappeared. And Lucio was abandoned once again.


End file.
